#Free crossword puzzle maker how to
#Free crossword puzzle maker professional

Look: I get that you want to prove to your brother or wife or friend that you’re the superior crossword puzzle solver. But a variety of word lengths helps keep the game interesting - and also makes your puzzle look more aesthetically appealing. Likewise, for kids, you might want to include only short words.

It might be tempting, if you’re making a puzzle for an adult, to include only words with 10+ letters. This keeps things engaging and prevents readers from getting too frustrated. Keep in mind, though, that some variety in word length and difficulty can be good for higher-level puzzles. If you’re creating a puzzle for second-graders, for instance, you might not want to include the word ‘ululations.’ On the other hand, if you’re doing a puzzle for college-educated players, you might not want to include words so simple as ‘loud’. It’s key to keep your audience in mind when creating a word puzzle.

Make sure the word difficulty is well-suited for your audience.

#Free crossword puzzle maker professional

In the professional puzzle-making world, it’s a constant challenge to come up with interesting, unique puzzle themes. Not only will the theme help make your puzzle fun, it’ll also give your puzzle solver more to work with when trying to figure out your clues.

#Free crossword puzzle maker how to

Here are a few tips on how to create a great crossword puzzle:Ī great way to keep your puzzle consistent is to create a theme.

There’s a reason newspapers pay big bucks for puzzles. Tips for Creating a Great Crossword PuzzleĬreating a crossword puzzle is easier said than done. Once your puzzle is complete, use the green ‘download’ button or the grey ‘print’ button to share your puzzle with others. This will allow you to change the background color of your puzzle, change the font color, or add a header and footer text. If you’d like to further customize your puzzle, click the grey ‘Advanced options’ button.

If desired, click the advanced options button to further personalize the appearance of your crossword.

You can toggle between these options with the ‘Puzzle’ and ‘Answer’ buttons as you build your crossword. Our tool includes a pre-filled answer sheet alongside each puzzle.

Toggle between the questions and answers.

Or if you prefer a simpler appearance, choose the ‘default’ option. We have designs from Valentine’s Day to Christmas. If you’re creating a seasonal or holiday-themed puzzle, consider using one of our print templates to jazz it up.

Select a print template to jazz up your puzzle.

Hiding them will result in a more minimalist appearance. Showing the empty squares will turn the background of your puzzle black.

Decide if you’d like to hide or show the empty squares.

Choose which font you prefer for your clues and title. Keep in mind that the more words you include in your puzzle, the less likely it is that a word will not be able to be incorporated. This is very rare, but if it happens to you, try adding another word which includes some of these letters, or delete the word entirely. Occasionally, a word will not be able to be added to the crossword because it only contains letters not featured elsewhere in the puzzle.

If not all of your words can be added to the crossword, try to rework them.

For instance, if I’d like to include the word ‘January’ with the clue ‘resolution month,’ I would type, “January, Resolution month.” Each word should start on its own line, and should be followed by a comma and then the clue for that word. If you prefer to create your own custom puzzle, enter your words and their clues into the text box manually. If you’d like to use an existing preset, the Word Finder has options including holiday-themed sets, geographic locations, and historical crosswords. When creating your puzzle, you can either use one of our existing sets of words, or enter your own words and clues.

Select a preset of words, or enter your own puzzle words and clues.

Enter your puzzle title into the ‘title’ text box. Welcome to our Crossword Puzzle Maker! Whether you’re a teacher looking for crossword puzzles to give to your students, or a logophile who wants to create a custom crossword for a special occasion, our tool can help you easily generate the perfect puzzle.